A symbolic link—sometimes referred to as a soft link—is a directory entry that associates a file name with a string that contains an absolute or relative path to a file on any file system. In other words, “a file that contains a path that points to another file.” A symbolic link creates a new file with a new inode that points to the inode location of the original file.

A hard link is a directory entry that associates a file with another file in the same file system. In other words, “multiple directory entries to the same file.” A hard link creates a new file that points to the same inode as the original file.

A link resource block creates symbolic or hard links. For example, to create a hard link from /tmp/file to /etc/file:

link'/tmp/file'doto'/etc/file'link_type:hardend

Because the default value for link_type is symbolic, and because properties that are not specified in the resource block will be assigned their default values, the following example creates a symbolic link:

link'/tmp/file'doto'/etc/file'end

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the link resource is:

link'name'dogroupInteger,Stringlink_typeSymbolmodeInteger,Stringnotifies# see descriptionownerInteger,StringproviderChef::Provider::Linksubscribes# see descriptiontarget_fileString# defaults to 'name' if not specifiedtoStringactionSymbol# defaults to :create if not specifiedend

where

link is the resource

name is the name of the resource block

:action identifies the steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired state

group, link_type, mode, owner, provider, target_file, and to are properties of this resource, with the Ruby type shown. See “Properties” section below for more information about all of the properties that may be used with this resource.

Default. Create a link. If a link already exists (but does not match), update that link to match.

:delete

Delete a link.

:nothing

Define this resource block to do nothing until notified by another resource to take action. When this resource is notified, this resource block is either run immediately or it is queued up to be run at the end of the chef-client run.

A string or ID that identifies the group associated with a symbolic link.

ignore_failure

Ruby Types: TrueClass, FalseClass

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. Default value: false.

link_type

Ruby Type: Symbol

The type of link: :symbolic or :hard. Default value: :symbolic.

mode

Ruby Types: Integer, String

If mode is not specified and if the file already exists, the existing mode on the file is used. If mode is not specified, the file does not exist, and the :create action is specified, the chef-client assumes a mask value of '0777' and then applies the umask for the system on which the file is to be created to the mask value. For example, if the umask on a system is '022', the chef-client uses the default value of '0755'. Default value: 777.

The behavior is different depending on the platform.

UNIX- and Linux-based systems: A quoted 3-5 character string that defines the octal mode that is passed to chmod. For example: '755', '0755', or 00755. If the value is specified as a quoted string, it works exactly as if the chmod command was passed. If the value is specified as an integer, prepend a zero (0) to the value to ensure that it is interpreted as an octal number. For example, to assign read, write, and execute rights for all users, use '0777' or '777'; for the same rights, plus the sticky bit, use 01777 or '1777'.

Microsoft Windows: A quoted 3-5 character string that defines the octal mode that is translated into rights for Microsoft Windows security. For example: '755', '0755', or 00755. Values up to '0777' are allowed (no sticky bits) and mean the same in Microsoft Windows as they do in UNIX, where 4 equals GENERIC_READ, 2 equals GENERIC_WRITE, and 1 equals GENERIC_EXECUTE. This property cannot be used to set :full_control. This property has no effect if not specified, but when it and rights are both specified, the effects are cumulative.

notifies

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action that resource should take, and then the :timer for that action. A resource may notifiy more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies:action,'resource[name]',:timer

owner

Ruby Types: Integer, String

The owner associated with a symbolic link.

provider

Ruby Type: Chef Class

Optional. Explicitly specifies a provider.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer

The number of times to catch exceptions and retry the resource. Default value: 0.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer

The retry delay (in seconds). Default value: 2.

subscribes

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action to be taken, and then the :timer for that action.

A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for subscribes is:

subscribes:action,'resource[name]',:timer

target_file

Ruby Type: String

The name of the link. Default value: the name of the resource block See “Syntax” section above for more information.

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using resources in recipes. If you want to see examples of how Chef uses resources in recipes, take a closer look at the cookbooks that Chef authors and maintains: https://github.com/chef-cookbooks.

Create symbolic links

The following example will create a symbolic link from /tmp/file to /etc/file:

link'/tmp/file'doto'/etc/file'end

Create hard links

The following example will create a hard link from /tmp/file to /etc/file:

link'/tmp/file'doto'/etc/file'link_type:hardend

Delete links

The following example will delete the /tmp/file symbolic link and uses the only_if guard to run the test-L command, which verifies that /tmp/file is a symbolic link, and then only deletes /tmp/file if the test passes:

link'/tmp/file'doaction:deleteonly_if'test -L /tmp/file'end

Create multiple symbolic links

The following example creates symbolic links from two files in the /vol/webserver/cert/ directory to files located in the /etc/ssl/certs/ directory: